# Key ideas in five minutes

> The ideas the rest of the guide builds on: tables, fields, records, units, formulas, tiers, roles, review statuses, templates and the portal.

Source: https://www.speclatch.com/guide/start/key-ideas
Plan: Every plan.
Last verified: 2026-11-11

SpecLatch holds your product data in one place and controls who sees each value.

## Your product data

- **Tables.** A table holds one kind of product, such as close-coupled pumps. Each product line can have its own table.
- **Fields.** Fields are a table's columns: a size, a rating, a material. Each field has a type, such as Number, Choice or Calculated.
- **Records.** A record is one product, one row in the grid. The HC 1.5x1-6 pump is one record in its table.
- **Units.** A Number field can carry a unit. Enter 70 in Flow at BEP, a gpm field, and the record shows `70 GPM · 15.9 m³/h`.
- **Formulas.** A Calculated field works out its value from other fields. The formula `bep_flow * 0.7` turns 70 GPM into 49 GPM, and its units are checked before it saves.

## Who sees and changes what

- **Tiers.** Every field is Public, Internal or Confidential. A list price might be Internal and a unit cost Confidential. Each member's visibility sets the highest tier they can read.
- **Roles.** A member is Admin, Engineering, Marketing or Viewer. Engineering builds tables and edits specs, Marketing approves and publishes them, a Viewer reads.
- **Review statuses.** New records start as Draft. **Submit for review** moves a record to In review, and **Approve & publish** makes it Published. Only Draft records accept edits.

## What leaves the workspace

- **Templates.** A document template sets how a spec sheet or catalog looks. Templates live on **Templates**, where you lay them out in a page designer.
- **Documents.** A spec sheet is a PDF of one record, built from live data. A catalog PDF covers a table's Published records, on the Growth plan and up.
- **Portal.** The portal is your public catalog website. It shows Published records and Public fields, on the Growth plan and up.

Start with the [first hour](/guide#start): five short tasks that take a new workspace from its first table to its first spec sheet. Look up any word in the [glossary](/guide/glossary).